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A near-record 63 teams are entered for the upcoming Oregon Trail Rally. Photo by Matt Galantuomini

Organizers report good car count for Oregon Trail Rally

April 29, 2012

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The Oregon Trail Rally, the third round of the 2012 Rally America National Championship, will start 63 teams on May 4-6 in Portland, Ore.

It's the second-highest Oregon Trail entry list in the event's history, matching the 63 entries set in 2010. Oregon Trail's largest field was 76 teams in 2007.

Rally America has already seen record entries at the first two rounds of the National Championship, and the trend continues heading into Oregon. The Oregon Trail Rally will start at Portland International Raceway on Friday and continue onto the farm roads near Mount Hood for the remainder of the weekend.

Subaru Rally Team USA's David Higgins and Rockstar Energy Drink's Antoine L'Estage are battling for National Championship honors, but U.S. mountain-bike champ and occasional rally driver Carl Decker from Bend, Ore., is fast enough to potentially reach the podium. Decker last raced in 2010 at Oregon Trail netting a sixth-overall spot and managed to win enough points to later compete at X Games 16 in Super Rally.

Oregon Trail will feature a large Super Production Class this year with nine teams. There is a first-place tie in the SP Class between Travis Hanson and Lauchlin O'Sullivan, but only O'Sullivan will compete at Oregon. Hanson will rejoin the National Championship hunt at the STPR Rally in Wellsboro, Pa., on June 1-2.

O'Sullivan faces his usual national SP competitors and faces more West Coast SP teams, such as Hood River's Dave Henderson and Aurora's Mike Goodwin.

The Two-Wheel Drive Class will include 26 teams consisting of national and regional drivers competing on the same turf. Chris Duplessis in his 2011 Ford Fiesta R2 has dominated this year, but he faces an Australian two-driver team in Will Orders and Ross Allan. Orders and Allen are bringing their 400-hp Nissan Silvias and could seriously challenge Duplessis.